The Nation: The Great Tuna War

Ostensibly to protect its deep-sea fishery from the depredations of
foreign commercial fleets, Ecuador claims that its territorial waters
extend 200 miles offshoresomething of a stretch beyond the usual
twelve-mile limit. Yanqni tuna fishermen have "intruded" regularly over
the years, sometimes paying the Ecuadoreans a license fee, sometimes
not. Without a license, the American boats run the risk of seizure by the
Ecuadorean navy. (More than half of Ecuador's 21 ships, as it happens,
were supplied by the U.S.) Lately the Ecuadoreans have been getting more
aggressive: since Jan. 11 they have seized 17 U.S. fishing boats, three...